President Irfaan Ali has called on opposition political parties to “get ready” for the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE), while saying that they have adequate notice to prepare for the March 13, 2023, polls.
“We urge all stakeholders to participate fully in this process. We ask all political parties in opposition to get ready, you have long enough notice to be part of this democratic process,” Ali said in a video statement posted to his Facebook page on Thursday night.
The President’s call comes at a time when both major political parties – the Alliance For Change (AFC) and the PNCR-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) coalition – are contemplating boycotting the elections as they say that the voters’ list is bloated and cannot guarantee a free and fair election.
On Thursday, the government announced that Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Nigel Dharamall has written to Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) retired Justice Claudette Singh naming March 13, 2023, as the date for LGE.
Ali, in his video statement, said that the hosting of local government polls is a result of the commitment of the PPP/C to upholding the rule of law and following a democratic pathway to good governance. He said that his party believes in and has fought for democracy.
“An important part of democracy is local governance. Local governance and [the] local government system [are] an essential part of our governance framework. We promised that as soon as GECOM would have alerted us that they are ready for local government elections we will spare no effort or no time in calling local government elections.
“Tonight [Thursday] I am very pleased to say to you as we received notice from GECOM on their readiness for local government elections with their earliest date being the 13th March, I asked the Minister of Local Government to inform GECOM that we are ready and will move to local government elections on their earliest date they would have sent to us. That date is March 13,” Ali said.
Ali’s party, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic, had been in power for an uninterrupted 23 years and during that period local government polls were held twice. It was the current Opposition – APNU+AFC- that reintroduced consecutive LGE when it assumed office in 2015.
Local government elections are constitutionally mandated to be held every two years and Guyana’s last LGE was held in 2018.
The President, in his statement, said that his party will spare no effort in working with every community, municipality and township to put together a slate that is reflective of its ‘One Guyana’ agenda. He said that their intended team will be built around the promotion of development and collaboration at regional and central government levels.
Already in campaign mode, Ali said that the PPP/C’s LGE slate will be one that delivers the best services to their communities while doing its part to promote efficient and rapid development.
“March 13 is therefore an important date on which I call upon all Guyanese to work in renewing our effort in building the governance system, building our communities, strengthening our communities but importantly our municipalities [and] our townships. For long we have seen what mismanagement can do in townships, in some municipalities, in some areas. This is time for us to work together, this is a time for us to come together, this is a time for us to strengthen our governance system to work towards building a system that delivers to our people,” Ali said.
Boycotting and credible list
Both the APNU and AFC have been calling on GECOM to ensure that the voters’ list is ‘cleansed’ and following the announcement of a date, both camps indicated that they were contemplating boycotting the elections.
While the AFC said that the decision will be taken at the level of the National Executive Committee, the APNU has largely remained silent. However, Stabroek News understands that there is serious advocacy within the party for the withholding of participation.
A source in the PNCR camp told Stabroek News that a decision on participation would be forthcoming soon.
“While we want to retain control of our strongholds, executive members are also of the view that by participating we would be giving validity to the PPP/C’s mischief. The list is severely bloated and we cannot contest the election with that list.
“As it stands the majority of our partners are saying that we should sit this one out but I cannot say for certain that this decision will stick. It is an election after all and if we do not contest then it means that the people would not be given the chance to get proper representation,” the source related.
Meanwhile, shadow Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Ganesh Mahipaul said that for elections to be credible then there needs to be a credible list. He argued that the focus should be ensuring that there is free, fair and free-from-fear elections.
“There is a bloated list of electors consisting of dead people and migrants. Credible elections are important and credible elections begin with a credible list of electors. In any democracy, elections are very important but credible elections are more important and credible elections with credible results can only be guaranteed with a credible list of electors. Elections with this list of electors will certainly not be credible elections.
“Our focus as a nation must be to ensure free, fair and free from fear elections and that can only be guaranteed with a credible list which will give us credible elections and assure us with credible results. It means that for us to have credible elections with credible results we must have a credible list of electors and the President can be assured of our participation by ensuring that there is a clean voters’ list,” he said.
Some $2.9 billion has been allocated to GECOM for preparatory works to ensure the successful planning and execution of LGE.
